Reed: If you commit a violent crime in Atlanta, ‘you have less than a 5 percent chance of going to jail’

• CL File/Joeff Davis
• Reed blasts courts for releasing repeat felons rather than sending them to jail

Next time there’s a violent crime committed by a repeat felon who was put on the street rather than thrown in jail by a Fulton County judge, Mayor Kasim Reed says he’ll make it known.

The mayor is ratcheting up his recent criticism of the Fulton courts, which he says are responsible for freeing repeat felons, some of whom were already on probation at the time they were arrested. He says the court has contributed to what he calls a “turnstile” situation that allows those offenders back on Atlanta’s streets rather than locking ‘em up in the county jail.

“What you’re going to see is that every time that a violent crime occurs in the city and it’s someone that Fulton County released, we’re going to start publicizing it,” Reed told CL yesterday. “We’re going to show that we arrested this person before, and that they went to Fulton County, and Fulton County released them back into your neighborhood so there’s shared accountability.”

Reed raised eyebrows in a May 7 interview with WABE’s Denis O’Hayer when he said the county “doesn’t do anything,” including making sure that repeat offenders go to jail. Several brazen crimes in southeast Atlanta have spurred community pleas for additional policing and improving public safety. Reed is now emphasizing the role the courts and county jail play in keeping the city safe and he’s pointing to Atlanta Police Department data to back up his claims.